SEOUL | Camera Friendly City

Been traveling to quite a number of places with my camera gears, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia just to name a few, but one of the most camera friendly city that I came across is Seoul, Korea.

What make I said that, "camera friendly city", you might asked, well some of the factors that need to be considered are: You can take photo of almost anything easily without getting those strangely looks from other people, especially the locals, (as long as you are within the photographers' ethics); You can take, lugged around your camera gears without being afraid of it being "taken away", (as long as you don't wander off the off-beaten tracks), You won't feel awkward shooting photo with your huge SLR, as most of the people are using one! There are many camera shops around, new and used, compact and SLRs, digital and film; There are so many photo opportunities, even just by seating in one corner! + many other factors.O


One of the photographers, viewing the day's shot from his professional Canon EOS 1D body.


Just look at the photographers, having a classic film SLR for each of them.


A yuppie sharing the pros and cons of his Nikon DSLR.


There are even loads of woman photographers around, shooting with their DSLR, I guess woman prefer huge DSLR rather than those smaller compact point and shoot camera, or is just a hype nowadays?


Just look at those huge, long lens, see, I told you, one will not feel awkward tagging along their huge SLR for a walkabout in Seoul, but do know your limit and ethics. :)

Seoul | Twosome in Apgujeong

Apgujeong besides being famous for its row of boutiques, it is the place to be seen, or to see celebrities.

Armed with the Canon video cam, the Crew members of Star Sports caught filming for their next show.


Then at another corner, saw this crew with their abundance of clothes, and that guy with the yellow shirt carrying a professional Canon DSLR, perhaps trying to do a model shoot.


And at a cafe at the corner I saw a Korean Celebrity, or maybe not.


Another interesting thing about the Seoul's Rodeo Drive is their modern antiques and their architectural style, just like the one reflected from the mirror.


And this interesting parking style, just like those in the Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift.


Plastic Surgeons could also be found here.

And finally, a place for someone, not threesome, but TwoSome.

SEOUL | Apgujeong a.k.a Rodeo Drive

Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, USA, needs no introduction, but the obsession of this stretch of place for Korean made them built an identical area in Seoul.


Apgujeong a.k.a. Rodeo Drive, in Seoul also housed various designer boutiques, and this is also the place to be seen and to see various artists.


Indulge yourself in new handbags and accessories at the Coach boutique.



Or some new designer apparels like GA, and only those special customer can park their car in front of the boutique's door.


The huge label of DKNY could be seen from afar.


It is quite a walk, many smaller alleys could led you to their local designer's boutiques.


And if you need new shoes for your aching sole, Jimmy Choo's is at your convenience.


But I know, most of the ladies could not resist to get their hands on the new Speedy at Louis Vuitton, and just look at the size of their boutique!

I don't wanna mentioned about their Gucci's, Balenciaga's or the rest, if you want more, you need to come and experience it yourself!

SEOUL | The Walkabout Continues...

Still doing my walkabout, away from the city centre, trying to walk along the locals, and be amongst the locals, (well some locals do speak Korean to me, thinking that I was one of them).


Perhaps a typical scene in the daily life, and that guy on the right, is just enjoying himself, dancing with the sound of "nature".


The route that I walked thru was at time empty.


And sometime, I have to climb quite a long and steep gradient of road.


But I managed to see many local and traditional architectures, which otherwise I would miss, if did not venture out of the city centre.


Local people and the local grocery shops.


Just some pipes and their meter box.


Their local brews.


But there are still a pinch of urbanization within the surburbs.

SEOUL | Cheong Gye Cheon Stream

Cheong Gye Cheon stream is about 6KM in length, this is one of the historic places dated since the 14th century as one of the important pathway to go places. It was "unused" during the mid 20th century due to the urbanisation of the City, not until recently, it was restored and a dash of glamour were put to modernize the area so as to be the hip area of the city.


Restoration were completed in 2005, and "million" of people throng the area to have a closer look. For more details, one can read the plaque placed at the "start" of the stream


A poster promoting the area posted at one corner of the long wall.


A glimpse of the many "natural" design of the stream.

Some parts of the stream are re-design to make it have that modern feel, where as some area are just restored as it was, every few hundred meters, the designs will be varied accordingly.


Many people opted to just walk along the pathway, some jog, some just relax, enjoying the view or just reading their papers.


There are exits every few hundred metres, and there are also bridges crossing the stream within the exits, and if one are tired from the long walk, the subway station are just close by.


Another poster of " Seoul | A Lanscape of Silent "


Oh yeap, this is how the general overview of the stream looks like, and if you have watch the Korean Tourism adverts on TV, those "Hi Seoul", this is one of the places that where they did the promo filming.

Actually this was not my first time here, the first time I was here was few years back, which I have posted earlier here.

SEOUL | Halal Food Guide

For those Muslim travelers who are very particular about their food/diet intake, here are some guide to where you can enjoy Halal Dining Experience.

All of these are actually located in the bustling Itaewon area, if in doubt, just set your GPS or direction to the Seoul Central Mosque, and along the path, there are many Halal food vendors.


For those who just want some quick bite, you can hope into this bakery, Salam Bakery, just a few steps from the mosque.


Waz Wan, is one of the recommended restaurants on the Korea Tourism Islamic Food Guide, just a "stone throw" away from the Salam Bakery, no buffet thou, but just a la carte and some set meal.


Located in the otherside of the road, Usmania is also a recommended restaurant stated in the Korea Tourism Islamic Food Guide, the Food Guide is endorsed by the Imam of the Seoul Central Mosque, serving both a la carte and buffet, the price is quite OK, considering it's location, and you can either dine in or sit outside the patio and enjoy the people walking pass the alleys.


Moghul is just next door to Usmania, but with a large outside dining, quite a different ambience from Usmania, can have a try here as well.


Or for those budget wise traveler, you can try these cosy eatery, must be very delicious because it says Makanan Yang Sedap Ada Disini!

AN-NUR | Seoul Central Mosque

Itaewon in Korea is one of the happening area in Seoul, as it is some kind of an international tourist area.

Before traveling to both Korea & Japan, I have set on mind, and put on my must visit list, to visit at least one of their mosques.

Alhamdulillah, by God's will, I managed to step inside these mosques, and share with you, a glimpse, more or less, Islam in these developed cities.

Hope, by doing these, people can appreciate each other's religion more.

And amidst the busy surrounding of Itaewon, here lies the biggest mosque in Seoul, or in Korea even.

A very prominent landmark, which distinguish this structure from the others within the vicinity.


Arabic motif decorating the concrete cladding.


The traditional pillars on brick layout.


An easily recognisable Islamic patterns decorating the pillars.



Compared to the Tokyo Mosque, this mosque is quite old, built in 1976, yet it is still "flowing" along with the modern era.

SEOUL | Hello Photographers

Sometimes, we would be very cautious with bringing our camera gear while traveling to foreign country, the feeling of whether it is ok or not to photograph street photos and such, also the worries of carrying those bulky camera gears.

But whilst in Seoul, I feel "in" blending with the local, because many of the locals are carrying huge SLR with them almost everywhere, well, many touristy area actually, hence there were less guilt in capturing the street scene.


Checking the captured image from the tiny LCD viewer on his high-end CANON.


A bunch of friend having an outing together to capture the street scene.


There are even quite a number of women photographers, I guess they wanna play around with huge DSLR nowadays rather than those sleek slim compact, or perhaps just wanna make it a reason so that they can buy a new handbag which can fit their bulky camera!


A classic film SLR user.

SEOUL | Street Downtown + Travel Photo Tips

Street Photography is quite different from other type of photography, such as Nature Photography or Landscape Photography.

Many factors have to be considered in doing Street Photography, such as types of lens to be used, what sort of gears to be brought/used, weather condition, available time, and human/vehicle traffic etc.

Depending on the situation, it is advisable to carry as little and as light as possible, but if want to carry all your lenses and all your "heavy-weight" camera bodies, then it is up to, as long as you can withstand to carry all the load on your shoulder, than it is fine by me.

Blend in with the community as much as possible, don't be a tourist! (Although it helps at times to be a tourist.)

Sometimes, it is "impossible" to stand still to capture the scene, as the people are moving in all different direction, so you will be "shoved" here and there, hence be prepared for that.

It is nice to be artsy-partsy with your photo some times, (shallow depth of field, or in the ordinary lingo some blurred some focus), but most of the time it is safe to have a greater depth of field (i.e. everything in focus), the rational is that, the background is important to tell you where you are, and sometimes it is the background where the action usually occurs.



Bunch of friend, in the midst of playing boardgame on the street of Seoul.

This is just a sample photo of which I need the background to be focused as well, so that this single photo can tell that it is taken in a foreign place or for those who knows to read the character it shows it was taken in Seoul.



You can spend some more time, chit-chatting with the locals, come closer and do an artsy shot like this, BUT, in doing travel photography, if you are going to do this kind of shot, you cannot go far, unless you have all the time in your life, then go ahead do it as much as you want.

But in my case, I have only a very limited time in hand, and many places to be covered, so I could not afford to do much art shot, so a real street photo is what I need.

It is interesting to have a shallow DoF (Depth of Field) in your photo, but as mentioned earlier, u need everything to be in focus so that a single photo can say a story of where you are.




But in the contrary of what I have mentioned about doing art shot in your travel photo, it will also depends on what is the subject of your photo.

I can get away with this shot because, the subject itself can tell you where it was taken, although some will argue that anybody can just stick that sticker anywhere, well, it is up to you to decide, you can either follow the rules of photography, or you can just break the rule and make your own rule and see where it fits.

Happy "Photoing".

NOTE: I wanted to post about the Tokyo Trip, unfortunately I have a problem in converting my RAW to JPG, for those who are well verse, I have just downloaded the latest Canon DPP 3.4.1 and installed it, but everytime I wanted to Batch Process, it says "An Error Occured", tried re-installing it and restarting the machine etc, but to no avail. I have no such problem from all the previous updates, tried to search the net, found the same problem but from a french site! Tried to contact Canon but still no answer. So anyone of you, who knows how to rectify this problem, do please let me know, the previous version is not available on the net either, so can't turned back!